"We played a superb game to the last quarter and then we don't play the attacking way that I think we have to do," said Van Gaal in a post-match interview with Geoff Shreeves. "You have to keep the ball and be composed when you defend also. You are not kicking the ball away without any meaning. A lot of times you can control the ball and play the ball."

Though he did not name any individuals, the words used by Van Gaal appear to place blame upon Memphis Depay, who was at fault for giving away possession to Chelsea late on in the game.

On the pitch for a total of three minutes, the £25million winger lost concentration and wasted a glorious chance to play Morgan Schneiderlin into space in the closing moments of the match, hitting a pass straight off Ivanovic and through to Thibaut Courtois, despite his teammate being in yards of space to his left.

"With defensive organisation you have to be composed," continued the manager and it does not take a detective to work out what he is referring to. Memphis has previous for this kind of lamentable mistake - in the 16 games he featured in before a 1-0 win against Liverpool, United had failed to keep a cleansheet while he was on the pitch. It is a worrying trend and goals against Stoke and Newcastle can also be attributed to a lack of defensive awareness from Van Gaal's signing - and even worse, a complete lack of effort.

Memphis is not a defender but the problem with Chelsea's late equaliser, as it was against Stoke and Newcastle, was not that he mistimed a tackle or was expected to play at centreback - Memphis simply fails to understand the management of games he is part of. At an elite level, matches are won and lost in single moments and so was proven the case on Sunday.

After giving the ball to Chelsea with his poorly placed pass, the home side quickly got the ball out of defence and attacked down the left - the side of the pitch that Memphis had left exposed. He jogs back while his teammates run, and the defence is put under pressure and must quickly reorganise. Reacting to a situation is not preferable to preventing it happening in the first place.

Memphis doesn't follow Willian as he drifts past the winger towards the United box and all of a sudden a gigantic chasm of opportunity opens up for Chelsea.

Blind makes an error of judgement and rushes out to try and block the through ball and in doing so actually leaves Diego Costa free in the box to turn and shoot. Borthwick-Jackson is badly positioned too but the point here is not that the defenders have made errors at this late stage of the game, it is that they should never have had to face the attack they did.

Van Gaal's frustration at his side's inability to manage the game was clear to see. "It's unbelievable," he cursed and Memphis will not be the soul recipient of criticism in this scenario - certainly he nor any other United player was singled out by the manager.

Behind closed doors will be a different story though and Memphis will surely have been told in no uncertain terms that he is not in the good books. His United career already looks to be in trouble, relegated to the bench and poor when called upon. While it is important not to destroy a talented young player's confidence with angry post-match strip downs, the fact that not making a simple pass and not keeping the ball in the corner as the clock ran down has cost his side dear, will not sit well with manager or fans alike.

"When your aim is to be third or second or first, then you need to win because the gap is already big and the gap is now bigger than before so that is not good," said Van Gaal. After a brief cameo that revealed the same problems which have tainted Memphis' brief spell at United already, quite how much larger the gap between Memphis being in Van Gaal's plans and the Old Trafford exit is another matter entirely.